China: Six dead in Shanghai shooting spree

By chankaiyee2 on June 23, 2013 • ( 0 )

Police and SWAT vehicles seen parked along a road near the scene of the murders. Photo: SCMP Pictures

A 62-year-old employee at a private chemical factory in Shanghai killed four colleagues, a taxi driver and a sentry at a local military compound on Saturday night in a rare shooting spree that shocked China’s largest city and saw parts of it sealed off in a large police operation.

The man, identified only by his last name Fan, was believed to have killed a colleague, surnamed Zhang, with “tools” in the factory in Baoshan, Shanghai late on Saturday afternoon after an argument over “economic disputes,” local newspaper Xinmin Evening News reported on its website.

After the alleged murder, Fan retrieved a shotgun he had “illegally stashed”, took a unlicensed taxi and fled to Zhoupu, in Shanghai’s Pudong district. The drive took the alleged gunman some 50 kilometres, crossing the city from north to south. He then shot and killed the driver of the taxi with his shotgun, according to the website, xinmin.cn.

Fan then allegedly drove the stolen taxi back to Baoshan, and killed a military guard posted at the gate of a local military compound with his shotgun, and took the guard’s gun as well. He proceeded to drive back to his factory, the scene of the first killing of the night, and shot three more colleagues dead, the xinmin.cn report said. The victims included the boss of the factory, identified by last name Li.

Policemen patrolling the factory, presumably there after reports of the first murder, overpowered Fan after the last three shootings, and retrieved both guns at around 11.15pm, the website reported.

Witnesses saw about 10 police vehicles parked on a street near the factory, the scene of at least four of the shootings, as policemen and special police officers cordoned off the street. Police questioned every passing motorist before letting them go, it said.

Source: SCMP – “Shanghai sees 6 dead in rare shooting spree, reports say”